How in the world does one boot from USB these days?!!

[britechguy]

It seems that every time I need to do this some monkey wrench has been thrown into the mix. This is on an HP 15t-dy200 with an 11th Gen i7.

A client calls me today and he's getting the BSOD for the DRIVER PNP WATCHDOG error. So, say I, let's try a repair install or, if worse comes to worst, a nuke and pave.

Well, of course Bitlocker is on, but, good news, I have the necessary BL recovery key from the client's MS-Account.

I have tried going into BIOS and changing boot order to favor USB first, no luck. I'm still stuck at a "Preparing Automatic Repair" screen, and, yes, I have tried the hard power down multiple times to trigger Windows Recovery, no luck.

Then I went into BIOS and disabled Secure Boot (there's no specific option for legacy support), and this causes the blue BitLocker recovery screen/dialog to enter the picture. I have tried entering the BitLocker key, which it accepts, and I'm back to the "Preparing Automatic Repair" screen that, ultimately BSODs again with the same DRIVER PNP WATCHDOG error.

I've tried hitting Escape on that screen to get to more recovery options, which immediately takes me to a black screen with the HP logo, spinning circle, and "Preparing BitLocker Recovery" message at the bottom, which is where I'm sitting right now, anticipating that I will eventually have to enter the BL Recovery Key again. Nope. The spinning just stopped and I was back to the standard BSOD screen again. Then after the automatic restart occurs again

At this point, all I want to do is a nuke and pave, but I just can't get in to do it because this machine refuses to follow the orders I gave to boot from USB. I'd do a repair install if I could, first, but if I can't boot from USB that's a non-option, too.

I despise BitLocker with a burning passion to begin with, and it's certainly not all that's at play here, but there has got to be a way to get this machine reset. I'm now on a self-education mission, no billing, because none of the usual bag of tricks that *should* work are working. I may try to pull the drive and back it up later, but I have no idea how BitLocker is going to complicate that process, either.

Any guidance most appreciated!

[P.S. This is the second time in 3 months that this kind of ugliness has occurred. Last time I managed to get things to work with a BIOS tweak that I never, ever anticipated needing (it was a gaming machine), this time, no dice.]

 

[britechguy]

BTW, how would one end up using Fabs on a BitLockered drive that one extracts from a machine such as this one? I've never tried that before, so I've not seen what might automatically show up in the Fabs sequence in that regard.

 

[GTP]

Have you tried:
Power off the laptop completely and turn it back on. Immediately and repeatedly press Esc until the Startup Menu appears. From the Startup Menu, press F11 to enter System Recovery.

You should get the Windows Recovery Environment where you can select: Advanced options, System Restore, Startup Repair, and this one > Boot from a USB device.

From memory I think I have run Fabs on bitlockered drives and backed up data from them. I could also be wrong.

 

[britechguy]

First: what a relief that this topic has reappeared!!

@GTP: Yes. I tried that but it was spinning and spinning so I gave up. I can kick it off again if you think it's worth a try. I gather I'd want to turn Secure Boot back on before going that route. I'll give that a try.

I know that you can run Fabs on a BitLockered drive on devices that boot, but have never tried it with a drive pulled from the machine.

I'll go upstairs now, turn Secure Boot back on, and then try booting into System Recovery. Then I'll walk away for a while rather than stare at the screen for heaven knows how long!!

 

[britechguy]

Slight update: Reset BIOS to use Secure Boot again. Then restarted (twice) and the second time hit Esc until the menu comes up that lets you choose System Recovery.

Chose System recovery and then got the black screen with the usual HP splash and spinner with "Preparing System Recovery" and walked away. Now, half an hour later, the message text is gone, and I've got the HP splash and spinner only.

BTW, for completeness, this is the blue Bitlocker screen that appears if you turn off Secure Boot, then enter the code number plus enter to confirm it. You can't really continue doing anything without entering the BitLocker Recovery Key, which I did, to the previously noted result.

 

[britechguy]

Still HP splash and spinner 2 hours on . . .

 

[Rigo]

I routinely take the drives off and diskpart/clean them from another computer, put them back on and no further hassles from there on.
Except for hunting for drivers for the odd ones.
Another to watch out for is failing drives, which is usually the source of the initial problem. SSDs are fast but definitely not up to the hype about rated lives.

 

[GTP]

Any way to open a cmd window? Shift + F10? Shift + Esc? If you can you could try running rstrui.
Try this sequence as well.
Power off by holding down the power button for 5~6 seconds. Insert your USB. Turn the PC on and immediately start tapping Esc till the startup menu appears. Press F9 (should open a boot device menu with options.)
It should list your USB so select it and press enter.

You may have to enable/disable secure boot for it to work.

 

[HCHTech]

I routinely take the drives off and diskpart/clean them from another computer, put them back on

This is what we ended up doing for a stubborn laptop a few weeks ago. Luckily, what little the client had was on OneDrive, so this wasn't such a big deal. At some point you have to just stop spending time spinning your wheels and get on with it. Frustrating.

 

[britechguy]

Gentlemen,

Thanks for your input. Short version of events since last night was "spinning" for hours, definitely still spinning when I woke up in the middle of the night, but when I woke up this morning what's showing is the first screen of the Windows Installer.

I've just spent time on the phone with the client and will, if given the option, reinstall Windows 11 preserving data, and if I can't, then it will be a typical nuke and pave completely clean reinstall.

He doesn't have his data on OneDrive (or otherwise backed up) but is more desperate to have a functioning computer again.

If it werent' such a PITA these days to get to the drives (oh, how I miss the service "door" on the bottom of laptops), I would probably be doing the "pull the drive and reinitialize" thing more routinely.

 

[HCHTech]

If it werent' such a PITA these days to get to the drives (oh, how I miss the service "door" on the bottom of laptops)

We see more an more laptops with the ram slots (at least one of them) on the wrong side, forcing a complete disassembly to get at the thing. I'm sure it saves 1.5 seconds on the assembly line putting them together in the first place, but it's so frustrating on the back end. I don't think I've found the NVMe on wrong side yet, but even getting the bottom plate completely off can be a challenge these days.

 

[britechguy]

Believe it or not, the "other topic" I posted this morning out of necessity has now disappeared, *poof*, while this one is, for the moment back again.

Thanks to all for your input and observations so far. Do others agree that this:


is strongly suggestive of a system SSD that's entirely toast? That's the only explanation I can come up with for the fact that the only drive being recognized is the USB drive that's got the install media on it.

I am really sorry if anyone's replied to that other topic. I simply cannot see it right now, and I've been away from the keyboard for the majority of the day.

 

[frase]

As I stated before in the other post have you tried DISKPART>CLEAN.
To install on a "Clean" SSD with no current set partitions.

 

[britechguy]

@frase: And as I said on the other post, I can't do this on a computer that won't boot and where Windows install media does not even see the drive as existing.

I'm asking for educated opinions based on the available evidence. I'm not about to tear down the machine "just to find out" what's probably the most likely explanation.

I know how to do what you suggest were I to pull the drive and connect it to another machine as an external drive, but if I were going to do that I'd suggest a new SSD, anyway (which I have already done).

 

[frase]

I’m an educated intelligent person. I’m not a genius.

 

[GTP]

Yes @britechguy the SSD is toast - in fact its burnt toast!
You are faced with the inevitable teardown and replace scenario.
The reason the BIOS cant see it is because there is nothing for the BIOS to see. It's Dead.

Good luck with it.

 

[Rigo]

strongly suggestive of a system SSD that's entirely toast

Not necessarily, strong possibility that you need to "load drivers" before it can be seen. Also that the drive is toast indeed but you can only test/assess that on another computer.
I've got a collection of them in a folder on the USB installation drive to enable quick access for that. You might still have to try until you get the correct one that matches.
The other option with a CD-ROM, totally impractical

 

[carmen617]

Believe it or not, the "other topic" I posted this morning out of necessity has now disappeared, *poof*, while this one is, for the moment back again.

Thanks to all for your input and observations so far. Do others agree that this:
View attachment 17622

is strongly suggestive of a system SSD that's entirely toast? That's the only explanation I can come up with for the fact that the only drive being recognized is the USB drive that's got the install media on it.

I am really sorry if anyone's replied to that other topic. I simply cannot see it right now, and I've been away from the keyboard for the majority of the day.

That's your install drive. The system isn't seeing the internal drive for some reason, but it could just be that you are booting the wrong way after all your BIOS tweaks trying to get the system to boot up. I would pull the drive, put it in an enclosure, and see if you can see it externally. I've done that many times with Bitlockered drives and FABs, it will just require you to enter the key prior to unlocking and reading the drive. That's not a particularly hard laptop to disassemble - it just has hidden screws under the rubber feet to find - once they are all found and out it's just a matter of prying off the cover. Also, it could have come with Intel Optane, which could be the root of the issue.

 

[britechguy]

Also, it could have come with Intel Optane, which could be the root of the issue.

Given what I saw in BIOS, Optane is involved. Any suggestions with regard to Optane?

The BIOS tweaks I did were few (two, to be exact): Changing boot order and enabling/disabling Secure Boot.

I did say that what was being seen in the last photo was the jump drive that contained the Windows Installer. It is the system SSD that has seemed to vanish. I've only once even gotten that far just because the system spins and spins and spins for many hours before it ever arrives there, if it arrives there.

 

[britechguy]

BTW, I was present at the last BSOD that occurred last night. The code is INACCESSIBLE BOOT DEVICE.